Long Beach State tops Oregon State, 71-67

In a hotly contested game Long Beach State pulled out a victory over Oregon State, Saturday night, in Portland. The Beavers dropped their fourth straight game. The game started off slowly and was marked by sloppy play for much of the night. Both teams combined for 30 turnovers (16 for Long Beach State, 14 for Oregon State). The Beavers shot the ball pretty well tonight, 44% from the field and from downtown. Long Beach State hit 20 of their 21 free throws though to put themselves over the top.

The closing minutes were actually quite exciting. Freshman power forward, Ben Kone, drilled a three-pointer with under 2 minutes to play to cut into Long Beach State’s lead, 65-64. With just 10 seconds remaining Stevie Thompson drove into the lane and was fouled. After hitting the first free throw to make it a two-point game (69-67), Thompson missed the second free throw and snagged his own rebound. Unfortunately, Stevie missed the short floater that would have tied the game up. Long Beach State secured the rebound and iced the game by hitting a couple of free throws.

Individual Player Notes:

• JaQuori McLaughlin finished with 16 points and was especially lethal from three-point range (4-for-5).
• Drew Eubanks had a nice game offensively scoring 17 points and shooting 8-for-13 from the field. He particularly looked more aggressive offensively in the second half; although a game-high 5 turnovers wasn’t ideal.
• Stephen Thompson Jr. also finished with 17 points, but still has not found his shooting touch. Needing 16 shots (and 7 free throw attempts) to get his points.

The Beavers don’t get much time to recover from their latest loss. They are back in action Sunday afternoon (3 pm) against the Portland Pilots. That game will wrap up the Dam City Classic and the Beavers will return home to face Kent State before starting Pac-12 play.